Trust
by rachelreg
Summary: One year after the battle with kishin Asura, seven students at the DWMA find themselves tangled fighting powers beyond belief. Little do they know, however, that the biggest threat to their own and others' lives could be within themselves.
1. はじめにプロローグ1

"It's still human, isn't it?" a dark figure asked, looking up to another. The person next to her nodded slowly.

"Yeah. I still recognize him," the second person replied, giving a shudder. "Allen Johnson. Former student at the DWMA."

"This is going to be tough, but he's nearly kishin. You ready, Renee?" The second figure held out her hand in response.

"Ready, Miku." The smaller first figure emitted a glow as her body began to change- into a battle axe. Wrapping her fingers around the handle, a look of determination set in Renee's face. She jumped from atop the building and down in front of the evil human spirit. Her light brown hair blew behind her as a gust of wind passed by. The deformed monster turned around to face her. "He's not human anymore," she whispered to herself. The monster, with claws for hands and slippery skin, grinned at the sight- a new meal. Renee twirled Miku in her battle axe form around her head, and prepared a battle stance. The former DWMA student looked nothing like he did before he consumed the innocent souls of humans. He was now thin, heavily bandaged, and had clawed hands, as well as an eye out and an eerily wide smile. His hair had grown a few inches longer, and was matted and dirty. He growled at the young girl, who in turn ran at him. He dodged, and she grabbed a lamppost as she passed him, spinning around it and taking a swing. The evil spirit screeched as a severed arm fell to the ground. In retaliation, it began to swing its remaining arm around wildly. Renee blocked with Miku, spinning the weapon around. As the monster stopped for a breath, Renee took her chance. A clean cut split the human in half horizontally, causing its body to dissolve into thin air and leave a glowing red orb in its place. The axe emitted yet another glow, and Miku was back in human form.

"Sweet," Miku grinned, her dark green eyes twinkling as she took the evil soul in her hands. She swallowed it whole. "Number sixty-five," she said, looking proud. Miku and Renee had just recently started to keep track of their soul collections that would pave the way to making Miku a death scythe. Renee yawned.

"We should call it a night," she suggested as she stretched. Her partner nodded. They walked together down the sidewalk, all the way back to their apartment near the academy. Renee opened the door, and Miku trudged in, falling down on the couch. Renee flung the keys on the counter, leaving Miku as she went into her bedroom. Miku went into her own and closed her eyes, ready for sleep.

"Miku!" Renee shouted at the sleeping girl, who only rolled over. "Turn off your goddamned alarm!" she screamed. Miku groaned in reply.

"Nnngh…" she muttered, slamming her hand on the clock. Yawning, she stood up. "Five thirty? That means it's my turn to make breakfast…" she mumbled. Renee left the room to go back to sleep for a while, while Miku trudged to the bathroom to take a shower. Looking in the mirror, she saw the purple bags under her eyes and remembered the late-night fight. Slowly, she began to brush her teeth. Fifteen minutes later, she was ready to go to school in her normal uniform and hairstyle. She left the apartment to check the mail as Renee woke up, taking Miku's old spot in the bathroom. When she came out, she was greeted by a traditional Japanese breakfast. "Ohayō!" she grinned. "Traditional Japanese breakfast is served!" This would be a long morning for Renee.

After all of the foreign food was consumed, the two left for school. They walked, chatting along the way. "So this Saturday… at the school party…" Miku winked at her partner.

"You're going to ask…"

"Yep!" she grinned. Renee frowned, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. Miku constantly teased her about a certain ginger- Jason Bender, a top-notch meister whose life was dedicated to music.

"Look, Miku, I just don't know. I mean, I really like him, but I'm not sure-" She stopped mid-sentence, a maniacal grin appearing on her face. "You're one to talk," Renee spoke coolly. Miku's face turned to a pale white. "Oh yeah, I know. It's kind of hard to ignore, what with the way you stare at him all the time." The chalk-colored face of Miku turned to a fire engine red, set ablaze with embarrassment.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. Renee was right, however; Miku felt happy for her, though, as she knew that the certain someone in Renee's life ending up with her was more likely than that of her own. Miku would never end up with the person she liked.

"I'd bet that even his weapons know," Renee smirked, enjoying the flustered look of her partner.

"Of course not! I mean, we're friends, but I haven't said… they haven't seen…" Miku stuttered, at a loss for words. Irritated with herself, with her face red, she stared at her shoes and muttered "baka", a derogatory term in her normal language, the rest of the way to school.

When the two girls entered the school, the first thing they heard was Black Star, a student in their class, shouting about something. "Nyahaha!" he laughed. "I'll surpass god with my tuxedo tomorrow at the Foundation Day Eve party! Yahoo!" It was then that the girls saw him sliding down the rail of one of the main staircases. His partner was running behind him, her face pink with embarrassment. Rolling their eyes, Renee and Miku averted their gaze from him and made their way into the classroom. Renee was greeted by a glob of red and black that appeared right in front of her.

"Boo!" Jason shouted, making Renee jump. She landed with her face as red as his hat, which was on backwards. He wore the opposite color as Renee. Renee wore a navy blue skirt that matched the collar of her white sailor fuku sweatshirt that included a lighter blue ribbon around the collar. She also wore short brown boots and brown leather fingerless gloves. Jason on the other hand, had a much more relaxed attire. He donned a white sweatshirt with a black pocket and black stripes and burgundy jeans. His shoes were red and white boots, and he had a red hat on backwards.

"Jason!" she merely chuckled. Miku smiled at the two, and left them alone. She went to her seat, only to be bombarded by the Thompson sisters. Liz opened her mouth, but a teenage Shinigami pushed in between her and her sister, coming face-to-face with Miku.

"Good morning, Miku…" he managed. "Your… bow…" he struggled, and Miku looked up, as if she could see the large black bow that was tied to her ponytail. "May I?" he asked.

"Of course!" she chuckled, and he immediately ran behind her, trying to align the bow to be perfectly vertical. Her bow was the only part of her uniform that became asymmetrical from time to time. It consisted of a dark blue strapless dress that went just above her knees lined with black and white under a small deep magenta and black puffed coat that went only to just above her elbows. Her gloves matched the magenta of her coat, and her earrings matched the color of her dress. Her short boots, however, were deep blue with magenta buttons over black tights. Death the Kid came around to observe his work.

"Absolutely symmetrical!" he mused. Miku slightly blushed before he was bombarded by one of his weapons.

"Hey!" Liz shouted. "We were trying to talk!"

"But the symmetry-"

"Who gives a shit about the goddamned symmetry, you rude little brat!" Liz continued as her sister just watched, a huge grin on her face. Truly, the only reason he focused on Miku's symmetry so much was because she was one of the few people that cared enough to try and help him with his OCPD. He really appreciated it. "I'll have you know-" Liz attempted, but was interrupted by Miku.

"It's fine," she smiled. "What were you going to say, Liz?" Miku asked in a kind tone, trying to please as many people as she could- one of her most positive traits. Liz unintentionally let Kid off the hook.

"Oh, yeah… Patti and I were having a few friends over after the Foundation Day Eve Party. Would you and Renee want to come?" Liz offered.

"Of course!" Miku replied. She looked over at Renee and Jason as Renee let out a laugh.

"Are those two going out yet?" Patti asked. Miku chuckled.

"Not yet, but they're bound to soon enough," she answered. Liz and Patti gave maniacal grins.

"Patti, I know what we're doing at the party…" Liz said, raising her eyebrows. Miku gave a small laugh as she went to sit down, next to Renee. She was occupied in talking to Jason. Miku instead looked to the row above her, to her childhood friend from Russia, Leo Barkov. He looked upset, disappointed with himself. His blond hair was spiked to the side as usual, and his outfit was the same: a black leather jacket over a solid white shirt, jeans, and black and silver boots- but there was something hidden in the electric blue orbs of his eyes today. To his right sat his partner, as well as his love interest as of nearly five years now. She, Ashley Hanson, knew this about him. Leo had longed to be more than friends with her for some time, but she only teased him because of it. Ashley had never been the most mature student. She flipped her long, wavy ginger hair, causing it to cascade onto her large white coat with green trim. It was on over a sleeveless purple dress, which had green lining on the bottom and black in the center and around the neck. She wore black fingerless gloves and tights of the same color, and short purple boots with green soles. Miku watched Ashley avert her gaze to her left, to a boy nearly identical to Leo. Despite the similarity in looks, however, Leo and the other teen, Peter Roberts, had greatly differing personalities and competed with each other constantly. While Leo was brave, kind, and caring, Peter was hateful, rude, and arrogant. The two competed in everything: academics, sports, kishin hunting, and even for the affections of Ashley. And, to Leo's dismay, he knew he was losing Ashley's care and kindness rapidly, as she had begun to hang around with Peter more, and his negative qualities had rubbed off on her. The two had both been childhood friends of Ashley, and both at different time periods. Peter glared at Miku when he saw her staring. He'd been decent to her until he found out that she and Leo were friends, and since then, he'd only taunted her.

"What do you want, Type Two?" Type Two. That was his nickname for Miku, a reference to type two diabetes, as she had a more than slight obsession with sweets. Despite this, she maintained a healthy and fit body while enjoying the sugar she loved.

"Nothing…" she mumbled, turning around and opening up her notebook to take notes. When Stein wheeled in on his chair, the room went silent. Their lesson for the day was… surprise! The dissection of yet another endangered bird.

Miku observed herself in the mirror on the back of her closet. Her dress for the Foundation Day Eve party was a white ruffled party dress that came just to her knees. The sleeves went to the sides, and the top and each ruffle was lined in rainbow. It had a light blue belt that originally had a rose on the left side, but Miku knew that it would bother Kid, so she took it off. Her shoes were clear sandals with a slight heel, which she refrained from wearing the night before the party. Content with her look, she smiled at herself and changed back into her normal clothes. The party would be simply wonderful.

Renee, on the other hand, was having issues with finding an outfit. _'Does he like ruffles?'_ she wondered, holding up the purple high-low dress in one hand,_ 'Or does he like ribbons?'_ she asked herself, looking at the more sophisticated-looking poofy and ribbony dress hanging in her closet. She sighed. It would be a long night for Renee.

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**This is my first story on this account... please review! Flowers, tomatoes, and all things in-between are welcome!**


	2. Введение Пролог 2

The Bittersweet Café in Death City, Nevada, was the workplace of many students of the DWMA, including Ashley Hanson. Her ginger hair fell over her uniform as she brushed it out of her face. Satisfied with her work of the strawberry shortcake, she headed back to the customer who ordered it. After leaving the customer, she came face-to-face with two cerulean blue orbs. "Peter," Ashley laughed. "You scared me." The boy grinned an arrogant grin as he turned around.

"Hey, Type Two!" he called to a girl nearby, filling up a cup of coffee. Her muscles clenched up, then relaxed as she turned around to face him with a big grin on her face.

"What is it, Peter?" she asked through gritted teeth, her green eyes full of rage.

"Someone told me to get them a slice of cherry cheesecake. Why don't you do it? I'm busy now," he smirked. The brunette grinned even more.

"Sure," she struggled to say as she turned around, storming off. Peter opened his mouth to speak once more, but was interrupted as Ashley was tapped on the shoulder.

"You ready to go?" Leo, the newcomer and Ashley's partner, asked. She whipped her head around to face him.

"Just give me a second, okay? I'll be ready when I'm ready, okay? Good, grief, you're so annoying," she shouted. Angry, Leo simply walked back outside.

"Oh. You're still wielding him?" Peter asked, a bored expression on his face. Ashley nodded. "You know, if _we_ were partners… that'd be something," he slyly suggested.

"But… you can't just leave Gretel!" Ashley replied, referring to his younger adopted sister from Germany, who also worked as his meister. Peter just shrugged. "I-I have to get changed. I need to figure out which dress I'm wearing to the Foundation Day Eve party on Saturday, too." She brushed past him as she went to the female employee dressing rooms. She exchanged her café uniform for her uniform that she wore to school: a large white coat lined with green over a purple dress with black lining and green lining at the bottom, black tights, black fingerless gloves, and purple and green boots. She left the café after saying goodbye to Peter, and met her weapon outside by his motorcycle. He spoke not one word as he sat down and gestured for her to do the same. Eventually, they stopped at the park. Leo stopped the engine as they approached the trail that held shadows as the sun fell. Leo pulled out a flashlight from the seat compartment of his motorcycle and clicked it on. More shadows were cast along the dirt path.

"He's down there," Leo sighed. Ashley nodded. Leo tossed the flashlight to her, and she barely caught it. He inhaled as he glowed, turning into his weapon form- a sai. Ashley failed to catch him as he fell. "Hey!" he exclaimed. She chuckled, picking up the weapon. Shining the light down the path, she could hardly see anything. Cautiously, she made her way down the trail. It was thick with trees, and the sun continued to lower itself in the sky. She shivered as a gust of wind passed. She held her coat tighter to her body. The moment she heard a crunch of leaves, she turned the light off. Confused, she held her breath. Their target wasn't supposed to be near this close to the highway… It was supposed to be in the middle of the forest by the trail. Regardless, she listened and heard heavy breathing. Gripping the sai, she whirled around. Nothing was there, but she refused to let her guard down. The moonlight did hardly anything to help with her sight, as she could only see darkness surrounding her. As she inhaled, she felt a large object knock her down. She screamed. On her stomach now, she turned to face the monster. Taking the sai in both hands, she shoved it into the chest of the evil human as it hunched over her. She retracted it from the flesh and rolled out of the way as it stumbled down, where she had previously been standing. She was now covered in dirt, but she didn't care. She was surprised when it stood up, the wound seemingly having no effect. "Um… Leo?" she said, taking a step back.

"Soul resonance?" he asked, grinning inside of the weapon.

Ashley nodded, emitting a small, "Yeah!" Closing their eyes and taking a deep breath, the two recited the mantra in unison. As Leo began to glow an electric blue, Ashley held the sai above her head. "Mech zabastovka!" the two shouted, and Ashley it down upon the evil human's head. It let out a shriek that pierced both weapon and meister's ears. The two closed their eyes as their enemy disappeared, leaving only a glowing red soul in its place. Leo changed back to human form, snatching up the soul. He swallowed it whole. "Could you, like, not eat those when I'm looking?" Ashley flinched.

"Why?" Leo asked. He felt the smooth soul glide down his throat.

"It grosses me out," Ashley muttered. Leo frowned, sighing.

"Fine. Flashlight?" he asked. She saw it a few yards away, smashed to pieces from the battle. Knowing it would be no use to take it with them, they began walking back up the trail side-by-side. "Is it just me, or was that fight really easy?" Leo wondered, and Ashley nodded.

"Well Lord Death _did_ say that it was weak… it hasn't consumed as many human souls as most of the others we've seen," she reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," he laughed, remembering. After some time, they reached the motorcycle, and they rode back to their apartment.

"You what?" Ashley asked. He continued to search his pockets.

"I… uh… you have the keys, right?" he asked, nervous.

"You idiot!" she shouted, slapping the back of his head. "You're lucky I keep a spare in my pocket," she muttered, fumbling around on the inside of her coat. She extracted a single key, the only one she owned, as she wasn't old enough to drive yet. She opened the door and entered, Leo close behind her. It was now 8:30. Ashley went straight to her room.

"What do you want for dinner?" Leo asked. She stopped at her doorway.

"Just make some ramen," she replied, closing the door behind her. She opened up her closet, revealing the dresses she had gathered over the years for different occasions.

The ramen was done after only a few minutes. He went to knock on her door. "Ashley?" he asked. She appeared in the doorway, wearing a dark blue dress with way too many sparkles for his liking. "I need your help!" she exclaimed, yanking him into the room. She held up several dresses in front of him, each having their flaws. He told her them, pointing to each as he went through: "That one reveals way too much. That one's awkwardly shaped. The colors on that one don't match. That one's way too red. The one you're wearing has way too many sparkles." Ashley gave an exasperated sigh.

"Just… get out," she said, shooing him away. "Men are no good at this."

"The ramen's done," he shouted as he left. Ashley sighed, still unsure about the dress she was going to wear.

Leo on the other hand already knew his outfit of choice for the party. It was, after all, his only option. His only outfit suitable for occasions such as the party was a simple black tuxedo with a white dress shirt and a dark blue tie. He chuckled at how concerned his roommate was about her dress, and sat down to eat his ramen alone.

"Ashley!" Leo called from the kitchen. Set the plates of waffles on the table, and went to wake his partner up. "Ashley," he said, knocking on the door. She didn't answer. He slowly opened the door, revealing her alarm clock with dead batteries. He flicked the light on and off. "Ashley!" he shouted. She bolted upright in bed.

"What the hell do you want? The alarm hasn't even gone off yet," she yawned.

"The batteries are dead. I thought you were already up. Hurry up and get ready. Waffles are on the table," he told her. She sprang out of bed as she left, getting dressed and then brushing her hair. She then proceeded to apply her makeup, which Leo didn't understand as it all would come off or smudge during the day anyway- their school taught them how to fight, after all. She dashed out of the room and to the kitchen table, where the waffles were hot and ready. Leo was still eating, with a pile still on his plate.

Around ten minutes later they left for school, jumping on Leo's motorcycle. Speaking not a word, the two headed for class. Ashley was stopped by Peter. "Hey, Ash," he smirked. Leo was red with anger.

"Hi, Peter," she grinned. This only fuelled the fire of Leo's anger.

"So, I've got a nice purple tie for tonight. That's your favorite color, right?"

"Yeah!" she laughed. "Much better than this moron's blue one." Leo's anger turned to disappointment. Was the one he picked too warn out? Did it look weird with his skin tone? Either way, he left the two alone and went into the classroom, sitting down and tapping his fingers on the table. Soon after, he watched Ashley and Peter walk in. He stared at the desk as they approached, though it seemed that he could feel Peter's arrogant expression looking down on him.

"Hey!" Leo shouted as he knocked on Ashley's door. "Dinner's ready!"

"Just a second!" she replied.

He waited three seconds before asking, "Are you naked or something?" He laughed as he did so.

"No!" came an exasperated sigh from the other side of the door. He opened it, revealing Ashley, with curlers in her hair. "Hey!" she exclaimed.

"What the hell are you doing?" he wondered aloud.

"It's called 'practicing for preparing my hair tomorrow'. Now could you please get out?" She threw a hairbrush at the confused Leo. He didn't understand girl things, but began to laugh at the long name she had given the activity.

"Alrighty then," he chuckled, leaving the room to prepare the table for dinner.

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**Not as long or as good as prologue 1, but I'll accept my work XD. Please review!**


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